Yuri (百合,
Yuri?) and
shōjo-ai are jargon terms amongst fans for
lesbian content, possibly sexually explicit, in
anime,
manga, and related
fan fiction.
The word
yuri literally means "
lily", and is a relatively common Japanese feminine name, like many flower names. In 1976, Itō Bungaku, editor of
Barazoku ("rose tribe"), a magazine geared primarily towards gay men, first used the term "yurizoku" ("lily tribe") in reference to female readers in the title of a column of letters called "Yurizoku no heya" (Lily tribe's room)
[1]. It is unclear whether this was the first instance of this usage of the term. Not all women whose letters appeared in this short-lived column were necessarily lesbians, but some were and gradually an association developed. From this, many
dōjinshi circles incorporated the name "Yuri" or "Yuriko" into yuri
hentai dōjinshi. The "-
zoku" or "tribe" portion of this word was subsequently dropped.
[2] Lilies are sometimes used to symbolize same-sex love in manga.
[3]
In 2005 at
Yuricon in
Tokyo, Itō Bungaku spoke about the creation of the term "yuri". He, and the
mangaka and writers who attended as guests spoke of reclaiming the term from a primarily
hentai, or pornographic, connotation to once again describing all media that represent love, desire, attraction, and intimate emotional connections between women.
[2]
In Japanese, the term
yuri (百合,
yuri?) is typically used to mean any attraction between girls in entertainment media, whether sexual or romantic, explicit or implied.
[2] For example,
2channel's "yuri" board includes both purely sexual and purely romantic content rather than separating them. The
wasei-eigo construction is "Girls Love" (ガールズラブ,
gāruzu rabu?), but is often rendered as English; occasionally spelled "Girl's Love" or "Girls' Love", or abbreviated as "GL". The term
shōjo-ai (少女愛,
shōjo-ai?) is scarcely, if ever, used with these meanings in Japan;
[2] instead, the terms
shōnen-ai and
shōjo-ai tend to denote
pedophilia. Ironically, the English term "
girllove" has this exact meaning and userbase, although the similar wasei-eigo
Girls Love avoids both. They are a form of
fanspeak amongst manga fans.
Japanese lesbians generally refer to themself by the
loanword "lez" (レズ,
rezu?) or "lesbian" (レスビアン,
resubian?), or by using more specific
gay slang such as
nabe for a
butch lesbian, similar to the English
dyke.
---------------------------------------------------------
Yaoi (やおい) is a publishing genre which focuses on male/male homosexual relationships and is marketed at females. The genre originated in
Japan and encompasses
manga,
anime, novels and
dōjinshi. In Japan, this genre is called "
Boy's Love" or simply "BL", and "yaoi" as a genre name is mostly used by western fans. Yaoi has spread beyond Japan; yaoi material is available in the United States, as well as other Western and Eastern nations worldwide.
The English letters form an
acronym of the
Japanese phrase 「ヤマなし、オチなし、意味なし」 (
yama nashi, ochi nashi, imi nashi), often translated into English as, "no
climax, no resolution, no meaning,"
[1] or as the
catchphrase, "No peak, no point, no problem." However the term is not always used that way.
The term appears to have been originally used in Japan, perhaps as early as the 1970s, to describe any
doujinshi that was a bizarre, playful
parody; however, it has come to refer solely to
sexually explicit male-male homosexual material.
Yaoi is not a common term in Japanese; it is specific to the
otaku subculture.
Yaoi, outside of Japan, is an umbrella term for all male/male comics made for women in Japan; as well as male/male comics made in the west. The actual name of the genre in Japan is called 'BL' or 'Boy's Love'. BL is an extension of
shoujo and Lady's categories, but is considered a separate category. Like 'Yaoi' is used in the United States, 'BL' is used in Japan to include: commercial and amateur works, works with no sex, works with sex, doujinshi about adolescents with little or no sex, works in all types of media - manga, anime, novels, games, and drama CDs with male/male content, and characters of all ages in male/male content. Terms such as yaoi, shounen-ai, tanbi, June, and original June, are all referred to in Japan, as 'BL'. However, it does not include gay publications
[2].
Though
yaoi is sometimes used to refer to any male
homosexual content in
film and
print media, particularly in works created by females, that is generally considered a misuse of the term. Professional Japanese artists, such as Kodaka Kazuma, are careful to distinguish their works as "yaoi," rather than "
gay," when describing them to English-speaking audiences.
Although the genre is marketed at women and girls, western
gay and
bisexual men also act as both readers and creators of yaoi related
fan art and
fan fiction. That is not to say that all gay men are fans of the genre as some are put off by the feminine art style or unrealistic depictions of gay life and instead seek gay manga, written for or by gay men.
Wim Lunsing, however, considers that gay manga are also unrealistic, and that it is a fallacy on the part of yaoi critics to compare women who read yaoi to the perverted old men who read hentai.
[3]
12-25-2007, 09:39 PM
Posts: 14,975
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